In 2023, the Nobel Prize in Economics (Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences) was awarded to Claudia Goldin. She’s a professor of economics at Harvard University. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded her this prize. She won it for her work on understanding women’s women’s labour market outcomes.
Goldin’s Focus: The Connection Between Birth Control And Economic Outcomes
- Claudia Goldin argues that understanding gender wage differences requires a comprehensive analysis of family dynamics, home life, market trends, and employment factors.
- She has extensively studied how these gender wage gaps evolve over time and during different stages of economic growth.
- Despite her insightful research, public policies have not fully incorporated her findings to develop effective strategies.
- The situation is complex, with social norms and factors beyond economics making it challenging to boost women’s labor force participation.
Power Of The Pill
- In 2002, Goldin and her co-author, Lawrence F Katz, released a paper. Katz is also her spouse and a fellow economist at Harvard.
- The paper named “The Power of the Pill” was published in the Journal of Political Economy.
The research emphasised the positive impact of women’s control of fertility on their contribution to the economy. - Goldin’s early research was mainly focused on young, single women with college degrees.
- She explored the connection between the popularisation of the birth control pill and women’s educational and employment outcomes.
- The research was based on time series data from different states and cohorts.
- There is a gender wage gap, and it might be due to differences in education and job choices.
- The 2023 Nobel laureate in economics highlighted that most of the wage gap is between men and women in the same job. This disparity usually arises when they have their first child.
- The research data showed a marked rise in the number of US college graduate women entering professional programs after 1970. Additionally, the average age at which these women first married also began to significantly increase around the same time.
- Looking at the historical context, the US FDA approved contraceptive pills in 1960, but only for married women.
- To gain a better understanding, it’s fascinating to note that in the United States, the pill was initially approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1960 exclusively for married women. However, in the late 1960s, changes in state laws expanded the age of eligibility and allowed “mature minors” to also access contraceptives.
- Goldin’s research provides empirical evidence of the profound impact of the birth control pill, highlighting its ability to reduce the financial burden of long-term professional education for women and postpone the average age of marriage.
Role Of Technology
- A study, she co-authored with Katz, published in 1998, investigated the influence of new technologies on wage structures.
- A significant positive correlation was discovered between changes in capital intensity and wages. This occurred during the increase in computer use.
- The findings indicated that those who didn’t use computers for work likely earned less than those who did.
- This study raised concerns about the expanding wage gap due to new technologies and computers.
- Household Dynamics And Workplace Participation: An Analysis
- Claudia Goldin’s NBER working paper, “Why Women Won”, published in October 2023, explores income inequality.
- Despite economic growth and women’s advanced education, the income gap persists.
- Goldin claims that home dynamics shape a woman’s work choices, and what happens at home reflects at the workplace.
- Women often select jobs with flexible hours, which might contribute to the wage gap.
- Determining factors for women’s participation in the labor force extends beyond socio-economic aspects.
- These factors are also influenced by decisions made within the home.
Exploring Gender Economics: Insights From Claudia Goldin
- According to Claudia Goldin, young girls frequently make decisions influenced by their role models or their mothers’ career choices and involvement in the labor market.
- According to Goldin, a woman’s career trajectory and salary are not solely dictated by macro societal and economic trends, but are also influenced by personal decisions like how much education to pursue.
- Goldin’s latest book, “Career and Family”, puts women at the forefront of the discussion on family economics.
- Goldin brought up the fact that economic history has largely been written by men, about men.
- She argued that a woman’s family economics significantly impacted her participation in the labour market.
- In “Career and Family”, Goldin delves into wage differentials between genders, stating that the wage gap can be seen as the cost women bear for desiring work flexibility.
Note: This editorial analysis is based on the article Economics Nobel & Women in Labour Force: Why policymakers need to consider Goldin’s work, published on the Moneycontrol.com